Heat Stroke? - Page 2

if there was lime and other things under the crawlspace, it is also possible that something there made her sick.

honestly, it could be any of a million and one things.   With access to shade and cool water, there really isn't much more that you could have done even if you had been home.

Wow, this page really made me worry about my girls! They are only 9 weeks old, but I don't want to lose any! They are perfectly fine I think, but I did just introduce a couple of measures to insure they won't over heat! They are very cute the way they like to walk through a small pan of water to get their feet wet :) I think that is a great idea for them. Also, dampening a part of their run pleases them as well. Good ventalialtion in the coop itself seems pretty imperative since they will be spending more time there when they get older.

dehydration maybe?? I nearly lost one of my polish girls this week from it. I got water with electrolytes into her and she perked up within a few mins.  Just a thought. Its also about 95-98 degrees here in Dallas and some of my hens are 100% ok while others are not doing as well. My poor polish are suffering. Ive put a spray mister set up in with them (will take pics later) it hooks to the garden hose. The birds seem to love it ;)

 

It looks like this:   (image from google images)

 

 

And here is where we picked ours up from: Home Depot. Not bad for $10. ;)

(link to see more about it)

 

Oh and one more thing... Be sure to not have much pressure on your hose... we honestly baerley have ours on at all and its enough for a good amount of mist. We only run it during the really peak heat time of day. And the chickens just sit there like its the only place in the world they want to be ;)

I almost killed a silkie twice with dehydration.  Now they have a bigger waterer, a very open coop and 2 fans running. 

 

For the rest, when they are panting, I run the hose on the ground to make a big puddle.  They all get their feet in there and don't pant anymore.  So I guess it does it's job.

Went to look at some birds a man was selling. I ended up being given a Doninique he that he thought got to hot. He threw her in a barrel and I asked if I could have her. She wasn't dead but for the last 6 days I expected to go out and find her dead. She could not stand or keep her eyes open along with just falling over. Today I got home and she was walking around clucking. This evening I go to the pen and she has flown out. Ok she is or was in a pen I am adding and don't have net on the top yet. She acts no different than the rest as of this evening and FLEW out a very tall pen. Ok all 32 of mine are almost like pets. I am not sure what he was thinking by throwing her away when she wasn't dead but she is good now after 6 days

If she had a full crop that could have contributed to heat stroke if that is what she had died from.My friend lost a red sex link to heat stroke around the same tempurature. It depends on the bird and the day. One way to help prevent heat stroke is as everyone else has said lots of water and shade but also cut their feed back by a lot. On hot days I barely feed my chickens. Just enough to tide them and once the sun starts setting and the tempurature is much lower I give them more feed. It's not 100% guarentee against heat stroke but it helps prevent it. Some times birds just die for no reason. Maybe they were sick, maybe they had a tumor, illness or other ailment but sometimes it is just a mystery. Don't feel guilty or worry you could have done something else. I have found a chicken healthy and happy come back 1 hour later and they were dead. Never knew what happened and never will... Sorry you lost your hen. It's always a huge bummer :(.